Coyle on finding a big fish donor: We’re still in the boat trying to find that big fish. We still have a hook in the water.

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disco said:
What are you even talking about now?
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I was trying to fathom what possibly could have been a reason for a negative reaction to my correct analysis of Coyle's spineless, gutless response to this question.

All I could come up with was that not being able to land a mega donor for sports was somehow taken a reflection on the quality of our university. Which is of course absurd
 


GopherGrit said:
I was trying to fathom what possibly could have been a reason for a negative reaction to my correct analysis of Coyle's spineless, gutless response to this question.

All I could come up with was that not being able to land a mega donor for sports was somehow taken a reflection on the quality of our university. Which is of course absurd
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Probably your sense of self superiority and angsty superlatives. You come across like the comic book guy from the Simpsons and your posts are exponentially more hilarious when I read them with that voice in my head
 

GopherGrit said:
Also, since it seems that somehow some posters are imagining this: having a mega booster for sports ... has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the school. As in the actual institution. The thing that actually matters. N o t h i n g

So it's absurd to think or imply that suggesting that we'll never have such a booster is somehow a reflection/commentary on the school itself. Nonsense


You think because Cody Campbell is some psycho rich oilman trying to buy Texas Tech a natty ... that that means TT is a good school? LOL
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Who are you arguing with? I don't think any person would correlate NIL spend and institutional quality.
 



mngg11 said:
Probably your sense of self superiority and angsty superlatives. You come across like the comic book guy from the Simpsons and your posts are exponentially more hilarious when I read them with that voice in my head
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Feels like such a bizarre reach/projection that I will have to assume you have me confused with someone else. I've very strangely gotten that feeling on this forum from time to time.
 

Unregistered User said:
I think it's an even bigger challenge than that. In the Twin Cities, the Gophers aren't just competing with pro sports for dollars, they're competing against the entire entertainment dollar.

Between the Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves, Wild, Loons, a huge theater and arts scene, concerts, and countless other options, there's a lot of competition for people's time and money. I know from when I worked for the Timberwolves, and talking to friends that have worked for other teams, they never talked about the "Sports Dollar", it was always competing for the "Entertainment Dollar".

Unlocking more small-dollar support probably means figuring out how to stand out in a very crowded entertainment market, not just a crowded sports market.
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I think the answer for the U is probably pretty straightforward and its to make it personal. your state, your team, your fanbase and do by connecting players/stories with fans directly as much as possible. whatever family of the game is silly. make it a NIL/scholarship donor who gets field passes (everyone who enters gets an entry). more events hosted for those donors (not just the big fish or a certain dollar threshold). Let them make a personalized jersey that's actually authentic.
Yeah you lose a little bit back of what they donate, but it hooks them in. The Gopher Score perks are mediocre at best, and almost entirely gone by the time people near the bottom select for anything remotely premier (not to mention they don't tell you the day the event is prior to selecting, so you may miss the thing you pick).

they're never going to compete based on talent, glitz, and glam. the money and product is just not the same (like the Vikings make $600mil in revenue vs our whole ath dept at 160). But pride that permeates across a state is what you have to try sell imo and win as many small time donors (oddly enough, some of those small time folks go to your school, graduate, and make it big and turn into those big time folks). while i get the fascination with getting hung up on the "big fish" (and not saying this to you specifically), with our metro market comparatively with the whole state, they need to figure out how to get the grass roots donations up and running vastly better as well

Lastly, Coyle needs to find anyone else to try do this. He is not an inspiring speaker
 

^ Coyle is not actually doing anything. "Leaving a hook in the water" is like saying "yeah sure, we'd love to have one if one magically fell out of the sky into our laps".

There's not really anything to do.

People who donate that much money to a college athletics team ... do so for entirely irrational reasons with zero expectation of ROI beyond that team winning.

They do it entirely independent of who the athletic director is. They don't get "talked into it".
 
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GopherGrit said:
^ Coyle is not actually doing anything. "Leaving a hook in the water" is like saying "yeah sure, we'd love to have one if one magically fell out of the sky into our laps".

There's not really anything to do.

People who donate that much money to a college athletics team ... do so for entirely irrational reasons with zero expectation of ROI beyond that team winning.

They do it entirely independent of who the athletic director is. They don't get "talked into it".
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At minimum the AD needs to provide a "proof of concept" to the Big Fish that the large financial donation is likely going to have some positive impact.

If one thinks it just going to be flushed down the toilet, that check is not going to be scratched nor will there be any electronic deposit.

Maybe there's a few 100% altruistic outliers out there, but even fewer willing to cough up 7 figures.
 
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Ope3 said:
At minimum the AD needs to provide a "proof of concept" to the Big Fish that the large financial donation is likely going to have some positive impact.

If one thinks it just going to be flushed down the toilet, that check is not going to be scratched nor will there be any electronic deposit.

Maybe there's a few 100% altruistic outliers out there, but very few willing to cough up 7 figures.
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Correct. Mark Cuban didn't just wake up and say "I'm going to pay a bunch of money to IU football." He could have been doing that for years. He saw a window where his money could make a huge difference, and it did - they won a title.

There are other wealthy fans who do it differently. Like John Mellencamp, who donated so they gave him a shed at the top of the stadium so he could chain smoke while attending games.
 

Maybe start by avoiding the cringy metaphoric framing of this quest as “fishing”. Who is going to want to sign-up when that’s the pitch?
 

Goldmember said:
Maybe start by avoiding the cringy metaphoric framing of this quest as “fishing”. Who is going to want to sign-up when that’s the pitch?
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Fishing vs Phishing.
 

Ope3 said:
At minimum the AD needs to provide a "proof of concept" to the Big Fish that the large financial donation is likely going to have some positive impact.

If one thinks it just going to be flushed down the toilet, that check is not going to be scratched nor will there be any electronic deposit.

Maybe there's a few 100% altruistic outliers out there, but even fewer willing to cough up 7 figures.
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Huh?

We're talking about NIL. Money that goes to the player for agreeing to be on the roster.

That's it.


There is nothing to convince or prove.


And that would be the coach trying to convince the donor to give the money for the specific player. "Buy us this player, and we really have a chance to do something special this year".

That's exactly what happened at IU. That was the coach convincing Cuban to write a check for the Heisman winner.

Had absolutely nothing to do with the AD
 



GopherGrit said:
Huh?

We're talking about NIL. Money that goes to the player for agreeing to be on the roster.

That's it.


There is nothing to convince or prove.


And that would be the coach trying to convince the donor to give the money for the specific player. "Buy us this player, and we really have a chance to do something special this year".

That's exactly what happened at IU. That was the coach convincing Cuban to write a check for the Heisman winner.

Had absolutely nothing to do with the AD
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Disagree. It's all connected.
 

GopherGrit said:
Huh?

We're talking about NIL. Money that goes to the player for agreeing to be on the roster.

That's it.


There is nothing to convince or prove.


And that would be the coach trying to convince the donor to give the money for the specific player. "Buy us this player, and we really have a chance to do something special this year".

That's exactly what happened at IU. That was the coach convincing Cuban to write a check for the Heisman winner.

Had absolutely nothing to do with the AD
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According to Mark Cuban, your statement is false.

Loud wrong.


“It’s a great question,“ Mark Cuban said. ”I talked to Scott Dolson, who should be AD of the year on the planet. And we talked about that specific thing. The minute you start chasing the most expensive people coming out of the portal, you lose your identity. You lose your culture.
 
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Ope3 said:
According to Mark Cuban, your statement is false.


“It’s a great question,“ Mark Cuban said. ”I talked to Scott Dolson, who should be AD of the year on the planet. And we talked about that specific thing. The minute you start chasing the most expensive people coming out of the portal, you lose your identity. You lose your culture.
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frontofficesports.com

Mark Cuban Says He Paid for Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza Deal

Speaking with Front Office Sports, Mark Cuban revealed how he helped Indiana football land Fernando Mendoza.
frontofficesports.com frontofficesports.com
 

Ope3 said:
According to Mark Cuban, your statement is false.

Loud wrong.


“It’s a great question,“ Mark Cuban said. ”I talked to Scott Dolson, who should be AD of the year on the planet. And we talked about that specific thing. The minute you start chasing the most expensive people coming out of the portal, you lose your identity. You lose your culture.
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I don’t care about the larger topic but I will say Cuban likes to spout off constantly and often contradicts even himself… is full of shit a lot.

Not sure I’d take anything he says as the source of truth.
 



A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I don’t care about the larger topic but I will say Cuban likes to spout off constantly and often contradicts even himself… is full of shit a lot.

Not sure I’d take anything he says as the source of truth.
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Cuban himself has said the impetus for his donations were the conversations and relationships he has with the Indiana AD Scott Dolson. That's the only point I am making.

Why would there be any motivation to be untruthful about that statement?

Screenshot_20260611-101441.Chrome.jpg

Screenshot_20260611-101505.Chrome.jpg
 


Ope3 said:
Cuban himself has said the impetus for his donations were the conversations and relationships he has with the Indiana AD Scott Dolson. That's the only point I am making.

Why would there be any motivation to be untruthful about that statement?
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His motivation is to talk and be heard.

Years ago at one point was pushing weird health advice that was way off.

I think he likes attention, and has proven to be an unreliable narrator of even things he should know well.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
His motivation is to talk and be heard.

Years ago at one point was pushing weird health advice that was way off.

I think he likes attention, and has proven to be an unreliable narrator of even things he should know well.
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Deflecting the majority of the credit to Dolson would be extremely odd behavior for one just wanting to be a self-promoter or "be heard".

It was not an epiphany for Cuban to fork over the dough. A relationship was forged with the AD prior to that commitment based on overwhelming evidence with nothing to contrary.

Cuban was going to be heard regardless, as the comments he made were in response to interview questions. Him being truthful in this circumstance seems logical as it would not be able to be contradicted by other sources.
 
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GopherGrit said:
Huh?

We're talking about NIL. Money that goes to the player for agreeing to be on the roster.

That's it.


There is nothing to convince or prove.


And that would be the coach trying to convince the donor to give the money for the specific player. "Buy us this player, and we really have a chance to do something special this year".

That's exactly what happened at IU. That was the coach convincing Cuban to write a check for the Heisman winner.

Had absolutely nothing to do with the AD
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Nonsense. The AD matters a ton.
 

Ope3 said:
According to Mark Cuban, your statement is false.

Loud wrong.


“It’s a great question,“ Mark Cuban said. ”I talked to Scott Dolson, who should be AD of the year on the planet. And we talked about that specific thing. The minute you start chasing the most expensive people coming out of the portal, you lose your identity. You lose your culture.
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According to Mark Cuban, your post here is wrong.


I tried to find this same video on YouTube but for some reason they only put it on Facebook video, apologies if you can't see it. The headline is:

Mark Cuban says Curt Cignetti’s plan for Indiana’s player acquisition is what convinced him to become a donor #collegefootball
And the video info says:
Mark Cuban says Curt Cignetti’s plan for Indiana’s player acquisition is what convinced him to become a donor
 

Another big hole in the idea that it was Dolson all along: he has been the AD since 2020, but only figured out just in 2024 that football success depends on getting a QB and only just then thought of asking Cuban?

That doesn't make sense.


The sudden timing of Cuban's donation is plainly obvious: it exactly aligns with Cignetti becoming HC. Come on..
 

Since the thread is actually about the Gophers and Coyle, let's split the baby:

IF Fleck first convinced some wealthy U alumnus that their significant donation would make a big impact in the program, then sure I'd be fine saying that Coyle should be an important part in coming up with a plan for how to do that.


But that hasn't happened, and probably won't happen. Fleck is a used car salesmen. If there were that donor to be talked into it (by Fleck), it would've already happened. They aren't there to be had.


So there's nothing for Coyle to do. (Other than to give vague, dishonest answers about hooks in water.)
 

GopherGrit said:
According to Mark Cuban, your post here is wrong.


I tried to find this same video on YouTube but for some reason they only put it on Facebook video, apologies if you can't see it. The headline is:

Mark Cuban says Curt Cignetti’s plan for Indiana’s player acquisition is what convinced him to become a donor #collegefootball
And the video info says:
Mark Cuban says Curt Cignetti’s plan for Indiana’s player acquisition is what convinced him to become a donor
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The Cignetti plan you are referring to is what Dolson pitched to Cuban in the suite at Notre Dame.

Again all connected.

If you think Dolson had "absolutely nothing to do" with Cuban's involvement, you're flat out delusional.

Screenshot_20260613-074519.Chrome.jpg
 
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If it truly was Dolson who came up with this radical, genius plan ("hey guys, listen to this! OK, we'll .... go to a rich alumni ... and ask them to buy us a great QB!! I did it! I invented electricity!") ...... then why did he wait until only 2024 to spring it?

Nonsense. He either tried before and failed, or never tried until after the (new) head coach had done the actual work of convincing the wealthy alumni first.

Don't care which it is, both prove you wrong.


You're allowed to stubbornly be wrong, as you are.



It is proven: it's on Fleck to do the main, primary convincing, before Coyle would ever need to do anything.
 

Gopherchase said:
Nonsense. The AD matters a ton.
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Nonsense

A person who is going to give away a bunch of money to a college team, is either going to do it anyway no matter who the AD is or they're going to do it because they believe in the coach and the coach's program.

The AD has really very little to do with it.
 

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